BJP woos OBCs in warrior queen Avanti Bai’s name
LUCKNOW: Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday announced that the upcoming medical college at Etah would be named after Avanti Bai, the warrior queen who valiantly fought the British in 1857.
Addressing a meeting of the party’s OBC cell, featuring Lodhs, he said Avanti Bai would also figure in the revised curriculum for primary students that his government had introduced in the state. Avanti Bai was born in the Lodhi (OBC) caste.
The meeting was part of a BJP plan to connect with OBCs, the influential caste group that sided with the party first in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and then in the 2017 UP polls, resulting in spectacular wins in the state.
Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP is again reconnecting with these OBCs, holding oneto-one meetings of OBC groups. In all the meetings, the party has projected deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya as its OBC face in UP. Maurya has also announced that roads will be named after Avanti Bai and other leaders. Along with Maurya, Etah MP Rajvir Singh and UP minister Sandeep Singh were present at the meeting. Rajvir Singh is the son of Rajasthan governor Kalyan Singh and Sandeep Singh is Kalyan Singh’s grandson.
Kalyan Singh, a two-time former UP chief minister has been a powerful OBC leader of the BJP belonging to the Lodh caste. Gesturing towards them, he said, “Who can forget that in 1992 Kalyan Singh sacrificed his government for the temple cause? In Rajvir Singh and Sandeep Singh, two generations of Kalyan Singh’s lineage is before me and I pay my regards to them.”
Adityanath also took potshots at Congress president Rahul Gandhi, saying when greatness was thrust on someone, it resulted in leaders like the Congress chief as opposed to a leader who had come through by sheer hardwork and talent like Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Adityanath said, “The opposition is conspiring to stop Modi by forging opportunistic alliances.” Maurya said, “Now, the opposition is under pressure as no BSP cadre is willing to offer money for tickets to BSP chief Mayawati. As for the Samajwadi Party, I will say that it’s the magic of PM Modi that leaders of a party, which once opened fire at kar sevaks in Ayodhya, are now talking of a Vishnu temple.”
Maurya also said, “Such has been Modi’s impact that Congress president Rahul Gandhi has decided to undertake a pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar.”
He said roads in the state would be named after great leaders like Bhimrao Ambedkar, Ram Manohar Lohia, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel, Rani Laxmi Bai, Chandragupta Maurya, Kanshiram and Ahilyabai Holkar. State BJP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey said, “There is great restlessness in the opposition camp, but with all caste groups standing by the BJP, PM Modi is all set to return to power.”